The Fear
by Brianna Aisling
Summary: Another one-shot Ranma and Akane get together...the title is the name of a song that inspired the fic.


This one is a oneshot. I don't do these often but hey, you get what you get. Um, let's see, this song is a Travis song called The Fear (hence the name) and it is what this oneshot was inspired by. Um (again) it is *very* OOC. Don't ask me where it came from or why I made Akane so, um, well, you'll see. Enjoy it anyway.  
  
All I wanted was the chance to say  
  
I would like to see you in the morning  
  
Rolling over just to have you there  
  
Would make it easy for a little bit longer  
  
But here  
  
Closer every year  
  
So near  
  
The fear is coming clear  
  
My dear  
  
The fear is here  
  
Hottest summer in a hundred years  
  
But summer didn't bother  
  
Getting up this morning  
  
And so all the trees forgot to wake  
  
They were dropping all their leaves  
  
On the ground the below them  
  
But here  
  
Closer every year  
  
So near  
  
The fear is coming clear  
  
My dear  
  
The fear is here  
  
All I wanted was the chance to say  
  
I would like to see you in the morning  
  
Rolling over just to have you there  
  
Make it easy for a little bit longer  
  
Make it easy for a little bit longer  
  
Make it easy for a little bit longer  
  
Make it easy for a little bit longer  
  
Make it easy for a little bit longer  
  
Ranma rolled over onto his back, exposing his bare chest to the hot sun. Sweat dripped down his sides and across his forehead. He almost wished he could change to a girl but his mind violently rejected the idea. Ever since the failed wedding he had been spending as little time as possible as a girl. As he lay there, his mind worked its way to a subject he had been avoiding: Akane. She had become distant since the wedding, avoiding him and speaking only when necessary. It wasn't only with him that she was doing this; everyone was worried about her. Nabiki was particularly worried, which served only to make him terrified. The middle Tendo daughter never showed her hand and now she was holding it out for all the world to see. It was unnerving.  
  
Ranma sighed and wondered just why he should care whether or not Akane was talking to him. `Oh, right,' he thought sarcastically, `you have no idea why. It's not like love has anything to do with it.' Ranma sighed again and opened his eyes. He jumped when they locked onto two deliciously warm brown ones. For one moment, he was convinced she was an apparition.  
  
"Akane," he breathed, reaching out to touch her cheek. He started as his hand connected with her warm flesh. Akane's eyes closed and she leaned into the hand on her face. They stayed like that for only a second and then she opened her eyes.  
  
"May I join you?" He nodded, his mind clouded with heat and love/lust. She sat next to him as he sat up. He turned his body to face her. She looked *good.* She was wearing a pale yellow tank top tight across her body and dark blue cut-off shorts. Her feet were bare and she was wiggling her toes in the grass. He himself was in a pair of shorts with no shirt.  
  
"Hey, Akane?"  
  
She looked up at him, waiting.  
  
"Are you okay? You've been distant lately."  
  
A frown crossed her face and then disappeared in the blankness that had been there all along save when he'd touched her. She turned away from him.  
  
"Yes. I'm fine. I just had some things to think about."  
  
"Like what?"  
  
She sighed and looked up at the sky. Before answering she reached down beside her and picked up an ice cube. Ranma watched as she ran it over her neck and down her arms. He wanted desperately to do that- not to himself but to her.  
  
"I had to figure out what I wanted as far as the engagement goes, as far as my life goes."  
  
Ranma stayed silent, watching her and clenching his hands to keep from pinning her to the ground and.... He silenced the thoughts in his head. It would achieve nothing to think that way.  
  
"Don't you think that you have to do something about you're life, Ranma?" There was disapproval in her voice. He knew it was directed at him and how he had handled everything. The truth was he did, but he didn't know where to begin. Somehow things had gotten so confusing and tangled.  
  
"Yeah, I do. I just don't know what."  
  
Akane looked at him.  
  
"If I were you, I would start with deciding which engagement, if any, you're going to honor. Since all the engagements are tied to honor, then that means you have to decide who you love. It does no good to decide whose is more valid because they all are. But to decide who you love, you have to quit hiding from yourself, and don't you dare scowl at me, Ranma. Don't think I don't know what you've been doing; I've been doing it too." That silenced him. "After you pick, you will have to tell the others. I don't know how they will react, but, on my part, if you choose one of the others, you will have my support. Then you just have to honor it."  
  
Ranma sat silent. She was right. It hurt the way she said it, but she was right. Without realizing it, Ranma had begun scowling and his head was hunched down into his shoulders. He wasn't looking at her, but out to the side, at the koi pond. He jumped when she touched his arm; her hand was cold from the ice. He met her eyes and sighed.  
  
"You're right. I guess I do. It's still gonna be hard."  
  
She nodded, her eyes sympathetic, and squeezed his arm. As she withdrew her hand, his own shot out and caught hold of it. He didn't want to break contact between them, but he also wanted her attention.  
  
"Akane, before I make my decision, there's something I need to know."  
  
"What's that?"  
  
"How you feel about me and the engagement."  
  
Akane nodded, as if she understood.  
  
"Well, I dislike the engagement, but that's not because of you. I don't like being put into situations like this. As for you, well, I love you."  
  
Ranma stared at her shocked. She saw the look on his face and laughed.  
  
"Didn't think I'd admit it so easily, did you? I told you, I had things to think about. That included you, baka." The usually surly insult was said with such affection that Ranma felt his heart falter.  
  
"Oh, God, Akane," he groaned. She shouldn't have told him. He pulled her against himself and kissed her hungrily. She kissed him back, wrapping her arms around his neck. He lay back on the grass, pulling her down on top of him. He could feel every part of her, every single part. It was as if he had found his other half.  
  
Akane moved against him, memorizing the feel of his muscle-hardened body against hers. Her hands traveled across his chest and up to his shoulders, then down his arms, moving over the muscles. She had never wanted something as bad as she had wanted him, and now, suddenly, he was hers. It was as if she had found her other half.  
  
She shifted against him again, and became aware of his erection pressing against her. She groaned and moved against him hungrily. He responded by kissing her harder and rolling her onto her back. His hands traveled down her back. One lay in the small of her back and the other continued to travel down over butt and to her thigh. She had never before behaved so intimately with someone. It didn't matter though, because this was Ranma. He moved against her, almost thrusting. She moaned again and responded. A surprised shriek caused Ranma to roll off of her and crouch down in a defense stance. His eyes were wide and glazed. His erection was painfully obvious. She tugged on his pants and hissed a warning. He shifted so it wasn't visible. Only then did she turn her gaze to the discoverer of their intimacies. Her sister, Nabiki, stared at them. Her face was a brilliant red and her mouth hung open.  
  
"You'll collect flies, Nabiki," Akane said, sitting up. Without thinking, Ranma shifted to sit behind her, pulling her back against him. His hand settled briefly over her breast and then slipped down to her stomach.  
  
"You-you-you were-you were almost having *sex*, Akane! In the backyard! With Ranma! In the backyard."  
  
"I think we've established that," Akane said dryly. She glanced back at Ranma and discovered that his face was redder than Nabiki's. She wondered if she had changed so much that the fact that she *had* been almost having sex in her backyard with Ranma didn't embarrass her.  
  
With Ranma pressed against her back, she could feel that he was still aroused. She realized that she had changed enough so that she *could* have sex with Ranma in her backyard, in front of Nabiki, and not be embarrassed in the slightest. With a grin, she turned and pounced on Ranma. After a few moments it became apparent that Ranma wouldn't be in the least bit embarrassed either. 


End file.
